Author: Tracy Abell

Climate Movement Monday: Costco & Citibank

/ Tracy Abell / 4 Comments

Welcome back to Movement Mondays in which we discuss all things climate and take action on behalf of people and planet. This week’s post will be quick because we’re heading out to rally and march in support of Palestinians as part of the Global Strike for Gaza this week, January 21-28. (Palestinian journalist Bisan has called for a weeklong global strike to disrupt economic movement and stop the genocide in Gaza. You can participate by not spending money all week, staying home from work/school, or protesting and disrupting. PLEASE read this from Bisan, posted yesterday. You can also follow her Instagram).

Okay, this week we’re focusing on Costco and their affiliate credit card provider: Citibank. (Note: I’m including info gathered from Bill McKibben/Third Act and Stop the Money Pipeline). I am a Costco member and have been for many years. There’s a good chance you are, too, as Costco is the third largest retail outlet (after Walmart and Amazon). BUT EVEN IF YOU’RE NOT A MEMBER, YOU CAN STILL TAKE ACTION.  Unlike those two companies, Costco treats employees well by paying above-average wages and providing decent benefits. So, what’s the issue with Costco? The Citibank credit card.

Citibank is the second largest funder of fossil fuel projects . . . in the world. (Here’s a guide to credit cards and fossil fuel involvement.)  The good news is that 40,000 people signed a petition to Costco demanding they put pressure on Citi to stop funding fossil fuel projects and, if they don’t, to cut ties with Citi and find a greener credit card.

The following is from an email from Stop the Money Pipeline (note: Ron Vachris is Costco’s new CEO, but his first job at Costco was as a forklift driver!):

On January 17th, a small delegation of activists visited Costco headquarters outside of Seattle in Issaquah, WA to deliver our petition in person and congratulate Ron on his new role as CEO. We even brought a celebratory card and cake! We were able to successfully deliver the petition to the front desk of Costco’s HQ to be passed along to leadership.

Then, on Thursday January 18th at Costco’s shareholder meeting, a group of shareholders asked Costco to address their relationship with Citi and Costco’s CEO, Ron Vachris, responded:

“Citi is indeed a key partner for Costco Wholesale, and we are aware of those petitions that were signed. We are going to continue moving forward with our climate action plan, and have been in discussions with Citi about their carbon reduction plans in the future. We’re going to focus on our efforts, and we’ll stay close to Citi and their efforts as well.”

Yay for the acknowledgement, but Ron still needs to feel the pressure! Per Stop the Money Pipeline: Help us make sure Ron’s top priority as the new CEO is putting pressure on Citi to stop expanding fossil fuels. 

They’ve drafted a letter for us to send but, as always, our messages make a bigger impact when we personalize the letter. (ACK! It doesn’t seem we’re allowed to personalize the letter. 😦  ) Please go here to send your letter in support of those 40,000 signatures. I’m not thrilled Costco will receive the same letter over and over, BUT it does mean this action can be completed in a matter of seconds. 🙂

Okay, that’s it for this week. Thank you for reading and taking action on behalf of people and planet. I appreciate you and wish you a good week.

Solidarity! ✊🏽

From the River to the Sea: Essays for a Free Palestine

/ Tracy Abell / 5 Comments

Haymarket Books is offering an additional FREE ebook related to Palestine, a title that is very appropriate in light of today’s declaration of genocidal intent from Netanyahu: “And therefore I clarify that in any other arrangement, in the future, the state of Israel has to control the entire area from the river to the sea.”

Perhaps you’ve heard about college students losing their housing, scholarships, internships, jobs, and being doxxed for using the phrase “from the river to the sea [Palestine shall be free]”?  That’s because when that phrase is used in relation to Palestinian liberation, people have clutched their pearls and insisted they feel threatened, which has resulted in a whole lot of discriminatory actions leveled at those speaking out for Palestine. (My thoughts on that here.) But when the Israeli Prime Minister announces to the world that Palestinians will be wiped out from the river to the sea, nothing happens to him. He gets more funding, more weaponry, more intel from the U.S.

Anyway, the new FREE ebook (although you’re free to make a donation to Haymarket Books 🙂 ) is From the River to the Sea: Essays for a Free Palestine edited by Sai Englert, Michal Schatz, et al.

Here’s the info from Haymarket Books:
“From the River to the Sea: Essays for a Free Palestine collects personal testimonies from within Gaza and the West Bank, along with essays and interviews that collectively provide crucial histories and analyses to help us understand how we got to the nightmarish present. They place Israel’s genocidal campaign within the longer history of settler colonialism in Palestine, and Hamas within the longer histories of Palestinian resistance and the so-called “peace process.” They explore the complex history of Palestine’s relationship to Jordan, Egypt, and the broader Middle East, the eruption of unprecedented anti-Zionist Jewish protest in the US, the alarming escalation in state repression of Palestine solidarity in Britain and Europe, and more. Taken together, the essays comprising this collection provide important grounding for the urgent discussions taking place across the Palestine solidarity movement.”

Also, there are three other free ebooks available (scroll down to the bottom of page). One of them, LIGHT IN GAZA, I’ve highlighted here, here, and here. It’s an incredible collection of essays and poems about life in occupied Gaza, and I highly recommend it.

Thank you for caring enough about Palestinian people to learn about their lives, hopes, and dreams. Please continue making those calls and sending emails demanding a permanent ceasefire and end to all aid to Israel. Solidarity!

From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!

Climate Movement Monday: MLK and mutuality

/ Tracy Abell / 8 Comments

Welcome back to Movement Mondays as we honor the formidable Martin Luther King, Jr. He was a trailblazer in terms of justice and equality, and clearly articulated the threats of racism, capitalism, materialism, and militarism, so it’s sometimes hard to believe he was only 39 years old when murdered. Fortunately, he left us the legacy of his words and actions.

World Telegram & Sun photo by Dick DeMarsico.    November 6, 1964

Today, I want to focus on this passage from MLK’s final Christmas sermon delivered in 1967: “It really boils down to this: that all life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. … We aren’t going to have peace on Earth until we recognize this basic fact of the interrelated structure of all reality.”

Those words can be applied to justice and equality, the environment, and the current genocide in Gaza. While it might feel tempting to avert our gaze from the many, many bad things currently being done to people and planet, that’s not a viable path forward because violence against one is violence against all. All life is interrelated.

In that spirit, I’d like to offer some info, starting with a way to help Palestinians communicate (note: yesterday was Day 100 of Israel’s campaign of annihilation). Israel has imposed a blackout on communication and internet access, but eSIMs allow Palestinians to stay connected to friends, family, and the outside world.
The donation process is easy:
1) go to esim.holafly.com
2) select either Israel or Egypt as country (you can buy for 5 days up to 20 days)
3) use promocode HOLACNG for 5% discount
4) Screenshot the QR code (you will receive an email after making purchase)
5) Send that screenshot to gazaesims@gmail.com
6) know that you are helping fellow humans who are enduring terrifying circumstances (here is the full exchange)

And now I’ll share a bit of info about the fight to force the Department of Energy (DOE) to pause the permits for new Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) terminals. In case you need an LNG refresher, I wrote about them in early November 2023. The next facility up for approval is CP2 on the Gulf Coast in Louisiana. Per Bill McKibben, if approved, CP2 “will produce 20 times more emissions than the controversial Willow oil complex over its lifetime. If the industry gets everything they’ve asked for, US LNG exports will produce more greenhouse gas emissions than…Europe. All of it. This is the biggest fossil fuel expansion project currently underway on planet earth.” (Highly recommend reading his entire piece here.)

A huge coalition of environmental and climate justice groups will stage a sit-in outside the DOE building in Washington, D.C., on February 6-8th. 

Go here to sign a petition that tells Biden and Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm to Stop New LNG exports AND sign-up for the sit-in AND read the full invitation from the coalition. I’m guessing many of us won’t be able to travel to D.C., but we’re still invited to attend virtual trainings on nonviolent protest because it’s good information to have as we face intensified climate collapse.  Go here for info on trainings (January 18; January 25; February 1). NOTE: There are supposedly other actions around the country in support of the big D.C. sit-in and I will share info on those when I find it. 🙂

There are two bits of good news about these LNG terminals.
One, per Healthy Gulf: “The Louisiana Department of Natural Resources (LDNR) has announced that it will not grant a Coastal Use Permit to Venture Global for its CP Express pipeline, associated with the proposed Calcasieu Pass 2 (CP2) methane gas export facility, until the company responds to comments submitted by Healthy Gulf and partners. Read the decision letter from LDNR here.”
Two, per Politico on January 8: The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is “reviewing whether it is properly accounting for the climate impacts from a proposed project as well as the national security and the domestic economic consequences.”

And this is precisely why the big February action in D.C. is so important: to keep putting pressure on Biden to live up to his promises to transition off fossil fuels.

If you’ve read this far, thank you for being here! I appreciate your friendship and engagement in these very dark days. I’ll end with one last quote from MLK: “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

May we all continue showing up and speaking out. Solidarity! ✊🏽

“Armed conflict…is an idiotic way to spend our shrinking carbon budget”

/ Tracy Abell / 10 Comments

It’s incredibly dystopian that the ongoing genocide of Palestinians hasn’t motivated every single human to call for a permanent end to Israel’s atrocities, but maybe this reminder about the climate consequences of war will push a few more people to join the chorus calling for a ceasefire.

Image by hosny salah from Pixabay NOTE: this photo uploaded in August 2023

Today The Guardian published an article written by Nina Lakhani: “Emissions from Israel’s war in Gaza have ‘immense’ effect on climate catastrophe.” The article begins with this: The planet-warming emissions generated during the first two months of the war in Gaza were greater than the annual carbon footprint of more than 20 of the world’s most climate-vulnerable nations, new research reveals. (Note: emphasis mine).

The article goes on to say: According to the study, which is based on only a handful of carbon-intensive activities and is therefore probably a significant underestimate, the climate cost of the first 60 days of Israel’s military response was equivalent to burning at least 150,000 tonnes of coal. (Note: emphasis mine)

The analysis, which is yet to be peer reviewed, includes CO2 from aircraft missions, tanks and fuel from other vehicles, as well as emissions generated by making and exploding the bombs, artillery and rockets. It does not include other planet-warming gases such as methane. Almost half the total CO2 emissions were down to US cargo planes flying military supplies to Israel. (Note: emphasis mine)

In case you’re wondering, Hamas rockets in those same two months generated the equivalence of 713 tons of CO2 (300 tons of coal). The U.S.’s role, on the other hand? “By 4 December, at least 200 American cargo flights were reported to have delivered 10,000 tonnes of military equipment to Israel. The study found that the flights guzzled around 50m litres of aviation fuel, spewing an estimated 133,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere – more than the entire island of Grenada last year.”

I’m tempted to highlight every paragraph from this vital story, but will stop with this: David Boyd, the UN special rapporteur for human rights and the environment, said: “This research helps us understand the immense magnitude of military emissions – from preparing for war, carrying out war and rebuilding after war. Armed conflict pushes humanity even closer to the precipice of climate catastrophe, and is an idiotic way to spend our shrinking carbon budget.” (Note: emphasis mine)

An idiotic way to spend our shrinking carbon budget, indeed. Please read this important story that highlights what we all know to be true: wars and aggression enrich the military industrial complex at the expense of people and planet.

Anything war can do, peace can do better!

Climate Movement Monday: protect mature trees

/ Tracy Abell / 3 Comments

Welcome back to Movement Mondays in which we discuss all things climate. Today I’m returning to an issue I highlighted in March of 2023 when I asked for personalized letters in support of old-growth forests. There’s good news: on December 19, 2023, the Biden administration put out a press release First-of-its Kind National Forest Plan Amendment to Conserve and Steward Old Growth Forests, stating that “the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced a proposal to amend all 128 forest land management plans to conserve and steward old-growth forest conditions on national forests and grasslands nationwide.”

That’s a very good start. But we need to keep applying pressure to also protect mature trees and forests. Per Earthjustice: The proposed plan could protect old-growth trees in national forests from most logging. But the Forest Service also needs to issue strong protections for mature trees, which are our future old-growth forests and exist in much greater numbers than old-growth.

Photo by Zetong Li

Protecting mature trees and forests on federal lands should be a no-brainer as we face climate collapse. Big, old trees do so much for us. They store carbon! They provide habitat for wildlife! They help clean the air and water! They stabilize soil during floods! Also? Big, old trees are beautiful and balm for our stressed-out souls.   

Earthjustice has provided a letter template for us to get our comments to the Forest Service. Remember, we don’t have to write a whole lot of words and the most effective letter is one that shows why the issue matters to us. I know there are many tree-loving readers here. 🙂 Please, take a moment in support of mature trees and forests!

Solidarity! ✊🏽

Quick action on behalf of Palestinians!

/ Tracy Abell / 6 Comments

On Thursday, I wrote about courageous South Africa filing genocide charges against Israel in the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Today, Truthout published this excellent piece that alerted me to a letter-writing campaign in support of South Africa’s efforts. So, I’m back to ask you to PLEASE use this template to write one letter that will be automatically sent to the United Nations Consulates of Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Jordan, Turkey, Ireland, Honduras, Bolivia, Belize, Algeria, and Pakistan. Because those countries are parties to the Genocide Convention, they can file a Declaration of Intervention with the IJC in support of South Africa’s efforts.

We in the U.S. are NOT being represented by our government. The majority of people want a permanent ceasefire and do not support the genocide being funded by the U.S. government. Our only hope is to put pressure on other countries to follow through on their declarations of outrage regarding Israel’s campaign of collective punishment. Unless they do so, Israel will continue to act with impunity.

PLEASE, take a few minutes to personalize this letter (I wrote about the frustration of my so-called representatives’ lack of response to my phone calls, emails, protests, etc., and also shortened the template message). It’s also good to personalize the Subject line. Our letters carry more weight when we write in our own words because it shows we really and truly care about what’s happening. RootsAction and World Beyond War created the template and so far, nearly 180,000 letters have been sent. PLEASE, add your voice to the global chorus calling out in support of Palestinians!

Thank you in advance. ❤️ Solidarity! ✊🏽

Thankful Thursday: South Africa charges Israel with genocide

/ Tracy Abell / 6 Comments

It’s very fitting that South Africa, a former apartheid state, is the country that recently filed charges against Israel in the International Court of Justice.

South Africa asserts that Israel is in violation of the Geneva Convention. From the 84-page document‘s Introduction:
The acts and omissions by Israel complained of by South Africa are genocidal in character because they are intended to bring about the destruction of a substantial part of the Palestinian national, racial and ethnical group, that being the part of the Palestinian group in the Gaza Strip (‘Palestinians in Gaza’). The acts in question include killing Palestinians in Gaza, causing them serious bodily and mental harm, and inflicting on them conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction. The acts are all attributable to Israel, which has failed to prevent genocide and is committing genocide in manifest violation of the Genocide Convention, and which has also violated and is continuing to violate its other fundamental obligations under the Genocide Convention, including by failing to prevent or punish the direct and public incitement to genocide by senior Israeli officials and others.

I have not read the entire document (not even close), but here is video of British newspaper columnist, Owen Jones, breaking down the contents. Confession: it was difficult getting through the entire video due to the sheer volume of horrifying details about Israel’s genocidal campaign, but it felt important to bear witness to what’s happening in my name. (Note: the video link also allows you to “show transcript” if you’d rather read or want to read along. OR, you can watch with subtitles via Twitter)

This from the end of Owen Jones’s video (~ 32:00 mark):
This is why South Africa’s case is so important. A ruling by the court could take years but we don’t have years so South Africa has asked for something else as well for the court to order in the meantime: for Israel to cease its operations in Gaza, to desist from the forced displacement of Palestinians, and allow Gazans to get access to humanitarian aid. That would mean foreign States who then facilitate Israel’s current action would find themselves criminally liable.

Predictably, White House National Security Council spokesperson, John Kirby, referred to the filing as “meritless, counterproductive, and completely without any basis in fact whatsoever.” (Um, the filing contains 574 footnotes, not to mention that the entire world is watching this genocide!)

I haven’t watched it yet, but Owen Jones made another video on South Africa’s filing, this one with human rights lawyer Daniel Machover. (Fun fact: In 1967, after Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Daniel Machover’s father, who was born to a Jewish family in Tel Aviv, plus 11 others, signed this statement:

If only Israel had aligned itself with that statement which saw far into the country’s future.

As for South Africa’s filing, since the U.S. is the bully of the planet, I’m not holding my breath. But I will watch the video with Daniel Machover and see what he thinks could happen. Either way, we should all be grateful to South Africa for stepping up in this moment.  It’s increasingly difficult to maintain my civility when placing calls to Biden and my so-called representatives who continue to insist Israel is merely defending itself (via mass starvation?!), and I would love for all of them to someday be held complicit in this genocide. A woman can dream, right?

No matter what happens, I remain in steadfast support of a Free Palestine.

Climate Movement Monday: highlighting a climate win in 2023

/ Tracy Abell / 10 Comments

Welcome back to Movement Mondays in which we discuss all things climate. I had aspirations for writing a round-up of climate wins from 2023, but didn’t summon the energy in time to create such a post.  🙂 However, I do want to shine a light on one issue we haven’t yet discussed here: factory farming.

As a lifelong vegetarian, I’m opposed to factory farming but wasn’t aware of what had happened in Oregon this past year until I did a search for “best climate wins in 2023.” Up popped an article written by Nick Englefried for Waging Nonviolence, a nonprofit media organization: A major win against factory farming points to a powerful new direction for the climate movement. The sub-headline reads Small farmers in Oregon, backed by a coalition of animal rights and climate activists, secured a big legislative victory over industrial factory farms, providing inspiration for wider action.

Here’s an introductory explanation of factory farming: “As animal agriculture became more concentrated and centralized during the last century, huge swaths of the country saw family farmers be displaced by factory farms, often called Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, or CAFOs. Notorious for their environmental impacts and cruel treatment of animals, CAFOs confine hundreds or thousands of livestock in small spaces where they are fed artificial diets with the goal of maximizing profit. The tons of manure produced by CAFOs are frequently over-applied to agricultural fields, or stored in huge artificial holding ponds called “lagoons.” The facilities are also water-intensive, with the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization estimating 20 percent of freshwater used by humans worldwide is going to animal feed production.”

The article goes on to explain the carbon footprint of CAFOs. Spoiler alert: all that methane is very bad!

But here’s the good news: “In July, Gov. Tina Kotek signed Oregon Senate Bill 85, which places a moratorium on factory farms’ ability to use unlimited amounts of groundwater. While some advocates consider the bill to be a diluted compromise, it has potential to significantly limit the destructive activities of CAFOs in a state where a healthy remnant of the family farming economy still thrives. On a national level, it represents the first major state legislative victory against factory farming in the U.S. in years.”

The long-term goal of the Oregon coalition (animal rights groups, environmental and climate organizations, and small farmers) is to pass a full moratorium on new factory farming in Oregon.

More good news: “Since the bill’s passage, three proposed factory farms — the Easterday mega-dairy in Morrow County and two industrial poultry farms in the Willamette Valley — have been abandoned by their developers. This is good news for the climate and also small farming communities who will not face local competition from these massive projects.” I would add that it’s also very good news for the cows and chickens who now won’t be brutally mistreated in those facilities.

I recommend reading the full article here because it discusses the historical shift in climate advocacy from changing personal habits to forcing systemic change, highlighting the wildly successful campaign to push back against George W. Bush’s plan to build 150 new coal plants. “By 2010, almost every proposed new coal plant in the U.S. was defeated, allowing climate activists to turn their attention to retiring existing plants.” 

I don’t know about you, but it energizes me to learn about successful efforts on behalf of people, animals, and planet! I’d love to hear your thoughts on this (for instance, are there feed lots or factory farms near where you live?) so please share in the comments.

Until next week, solidarity! ✊🏽

Ending the year on a positive note

/ Tracy Abell / 8 Comments

I deliberately went in search of natural inspiration and rejuvenation this afternoon as I wanted to end the year on a positive note. And during that time watching and listening to the birds and other wildlife around my home, the grief and anxiety fell away. I was at peace. Here’s a sampling of what I witnessed:

Scrub Jay

American Robin

White-crowned Sparrow (immature)

House Finch

Disgruntled Bunny (and yes, that’s a great name for a band!)

Dark-eyed Junco (and no, that’s not their mess)

House Finch

Goldfinch

Squirrel!

And lastly, Emma Jean-Jean, keeping an eye on things as I photographed yard visitors

I also saw Northern Flickers, a woodpecker, a Red-breasted Nuthatch, Black-capped Chickadee, Mourning Doves, and magpies. It was a bird buffet!

But that’s not all I did to soothe my soul. I also hoop-danced for 10 minutes today which brought my hoop-dancing total for the year to exactly 28 hours! In 2021, I hooped for 24 hours and in 2022 I hooped for just over 27 hours. So, this year is my new record. Woot woot!

Happy New Year to all! May the coming year bring more justice and peace around the globe.

Our shared humanity

/ Tracy Abell / 10 Comments

When I was a child and learned about the Holocaust, I couldn’t stop wondering how something so depraved and abominable was allowed to happen. Why didn’t people stop the Nazis?! Unfortunately, I now have a much better understanding of that apathy due to the past three months of Israel committing depraved and abominable acts against the Palestinians. A genocide is happening before our eyes as people shop after-Christmas sales and draft their New Year’s resolutions. I’ll exercise more! I’ll quit smoking! I’ll finally get organized! As bombs rain from the skies and Palestinians are literally being rounded up and held in a mass detention camp in a Gaza stadium, we’re unironically exchanging Peace on Earth messages.

How did we get here? One huge piece is that the Covid-19 pandemic laid the groundwork for our current indifference. Despite the deaths of millions and long-term disabling of millions more, life has “returned to normal.” Parents were told it was completely fine for their children to be infected over and over and over again in schools as the infections do untold damage to their immune systems. Society was instructed that it was okay for old people to die because, well, they were old. Same for the immunocompromised and disabled. Survival of the fittest, amirite? We were fed the message that only the weak and vulnerable were at risk, so we should resume our normal lives, namely working/producing and buying/consuming. Our “leaders” were wildly successful in getting us to avert our gaze from the ongoing mass death/disabling event that is Covid-19 (and to make that super-easy and convenient, the world’s governments have mostly stopped tracking infections and deaths!) Aside from Zippy, I do not know anyone else in real life (as opposed to people I engage with on social media) who masks. Despite the fact that the virus continues to mutate and become more contagious. Despite the fact that we’ve already seen how this movie ended during the AIDS crisis. Despite the fact that HIV is transmissible via direct contact with bodily fluids, but we’re now facing an unchecked virus that is airborne. Know what the government tells people to do to avoid HIV/AIDS? Don’t share needles and wear a condom. What’s our government’s main message for avoiding Covid infection? Wash your hands. EDITED TO ADD: I meant to also include climate change in here as another example of how they’ve  normalized mass death and destruction.

So, it’s not a huge surprise that many, many people here in the U.S. are also averting their gaze from the slaughter of Palestinians. They’d rather not think about it. They’ve been groomed to not think about such things. We were taught to think only of ourselves (rugged individualism!) and to believe nothing bad will ever come for us, personally. We’re immune to death and illness, prejudice and racism. We will never, ever be “othered.” We are the exceptional people who live in the United States of America, the greatest democracy on earth! Meanwhile, this so-called democracy is behaving in a very undemocratic fashion as it bullies the United Nations and –against the will of the majority of voters–supplies money, bombs, white phosphorous, and unconditional support to the genocidal, right-wing Israeli government that’s been very upfront about its intentions to displace, injure, kill, starve, etc. as many Palestinians as possible so that it may once and for all take ALL the land for Israel.

It’s overwhelmingly grim. But we aren’t powerless.

Please, keep making noise. Phone calls, emails, rallies, vigils, signage. Refuse to look away. Talk to your family and friends about what’s happening. When a neighbor yells, “How you doing?” let them know this U.S.-sponsored genocide weighs heavy on your heart. Pay attention to what’s happening in Gaza and allow yourself to grieve. Cry. Rage. Dance. Laugh. Sing. Go out into nature and absorb the wonder and beauty. Be fully present in this moment and remember our shared humanity. Extend kindness to yourself and strangers.

We’re at this point because we’ve become disconnected from each other and our surroundings. Our survival depends upon us reconnecting and remembering that we are all threads in the same fabric. We are one.

UPDATE: Just as I got ready to post this, the doorbell rang. It was a man from up the street who stopped by to introduce himself. He said his family is Muslim and that they very much appreciate the CEASEFIRE NOW sign in our front yard. He gave us a beautiful box of cookies and accepted my offer to make them a sign for their yard. The entire exchange brought tears to my eyes and deepened my resolve to forge connections.

Nature’s refuge

/ Tracy Abell / 10 Comments

I’m in the final stretch of revisions before sending the middle-grade manuscript back to my agent so the book can go on submission in the new year. The work feels both like a blessing and a curse. I’m grateful to be able to focus on something besides the horrific reality of our government’s complicity in the genocide in Gaza, but also sometimes feel selfish for escaping reality. Deep inside, I know that’s silly, and not only because the story I’m revising focuses on righting societal wrongs.

I also realize it’s silly to begrudge myself my creative outlet because we all need a refuge, whether it’s via the art we create or connection to the natural world.

July 20, 2023

In that spirit, I’m offering this Painted Lady on a sunflower. I photographed this in July and gazing upon their interconnectedness replenished my spirit as soon as I found it in my files. Maybe this image will do the same for you.

“On Why We Still Hold Onto Our Phones and Keep Recording” by Asmaa Abu Mezied

/ Tracy Abell / 3 Comments

This essay is from Light in Gaza: Writings Born of Fire (August 2022) which is available as a free ebook from Haymarket Books. As the U.S. continues to fund and supply bombs for Israel’s genocidal campaign and as the corporate media continues to portray Palestinians as non-persons (even as Israel targets Palestinian journalists for assassination), the images captured by Palestinian civilians often provide the only window into their horrific reality.

Here, though, from Asmaa Abu Mezied, is a powerful explanation for the intent behind those photos and videos.

On Why We Still Hold Onto Our Phones and Keep Recording by Asmaa Abu Mezied

Why would someone running from falling Israeli missiles or huddled together with their family next to the rubble of a neighbor’s destroyed home, surrounded by artillerty shelling, be holding their phones to record the horror around them? (I have often seen these questions on social media, which displays an utter disregard for Palestinian suffering.)

I am writing this for us, not for them.

We hold onto our phones for dear life because we have learned the hard way that documenting what we are going through is very important to ensure that our narrative remains alive and remains ours. Our stories, our struggle and pain, and the atrocities committed against us for more than seven decades are being erased. The Israeli journalist Hagar Shezaf explained how Israeli Defense Ministry teams systematically removed historic documents from Israeli archives, which describe the killing of Palestinians, the demolition of their villages and the expulsion of entire Palestinian communities. (1) This is part of Israel’s attempt to constantly rewrite history in its favor. So, we hold tight to our phones and record.

We record to resist the labeling of our people as unworthy, if not inhuman, by the so-called “objective” Western media, which can barely say our names and tell our stories. We are always portrayed as terrorists, violent people–or as numbers, abstract and formless. We are repeatedly asked to prove our humanity so media channels can give us a few seconds of airtime.

So, we record to document not for their sake but for ours. We have been systematically brainwashed by the media to apologize for demanding justice. There is no gray area in calls for freedom or equality.

We hold onto our phones and leave the camera rolling, recording our tears, our screams at losing our fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, and children, our anguish, our attempts to run for our lives, our crippling fears, our powerlessness to calm our children when our houses shake with the deafening sound of death delivered by F-35 missiles sent with love by the US government.

We hold onto that phone and leave the camera rolling to preserve our tormented calls to our mothers to stay alive under the rubble of our destroyed homes, our voices crying goodbye to our loved ones at their graves, trying to sound strong but failing, betrayed by our trembling lips and tear-filled eyes.

We must record our prayers to survive, our children’s joy when they find their toys intact and their pets alive. We record our strength and our vulnerability, our disappointment in our leadership, and our rage at the silence of the world. We record the smoke, the blood, the lost homes, the olive trees targeted, and livelihoods stolen. We record how much we aged and how much we continue to love life even though life doesn’t love us back.

We record for future generations, to tell them this is what truly happened. That we stood here, demanded our rights, fought for them, and were annihilated. We record not to humanize ourselves for others, but so that future generations will remember who we were and what we did . . . to warn them against all attempts at erasing our existence.

We record our plea for humanity’s help to end this horror, which is more than our cameras can bear.

————————————————–

(1) Hagar Shezaf, “Burying the Nakba: How Israel Systematically Hides Evidence of 1948 Expulsion of Arabs,” Haaretz, July 5, 2019.

Forest tableau

/ Tracy Abell

From the moment I woke this morning, a heavy fog has hung in the air. We never saw the sun, not even a glimpse. The entire day has been cold, damp, gray. Utterly dreary. So I went in search of an image to remind myself it’s not always a monochromatic world.

Here’s a still life from our hike in Pike National Forest. I remember being charmed by the bursts of color that day and today the vibrant foliage warms my heart even more.

October 3, 2023

And to quote Raveena Tandon: Anywhere which is in a forest, that’s my zen place.

Climate Movement Monday: Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL)

/ Tracy Abell / 2 Comments

Welcome back to Movement Mondays in which we discuss all things climate. Today, I’m reverting to the original format in which I share information on a frontline community being adversely affected by climate change/fossil fuels and then offer a quick action you can take on behalf of that community. Note: this comment deadline is December 13, two days from now.

Today, we’re focusing on the Dakota Access Pipeline. The following info is the result of collaboration between People vs Fossil Fuels, NDN Collective, and the Sierra Club. (Full document HERE) First off, what is DAPL and why is the Army Corps of Engineers accepting public comment? (click on image to enlarge).

Some of my courageous friends were there, resisting the project as they fought to protect the water. Unfortunately, the pipeline was built. But we have the opportunity to support the Cheyenne River Tribe’s legal efforts by submitting comments. And what is the Cheyenne River Tribe’s recommendation for our comments?

The Army Corps needs to hear that the Draft EIS is not adequate and that the best alternatives are the ones that shut DAPL down. [Specifically, Alternative 2]

What options (“alternatives”) is the Army Corps considering?
1. Deny an easement under Lake Oahe and require restoration of federal lands to pre-pipeline conditions, including removal of the pipeline
2. Deny an easement under Lake Oahe and abandon the pipeline in place
3. Grant an easement under Lake Oahe as it was previously granted when DAPL was built
4. Grant an easement under Lake Oahe but with more conditions
5. Deny an easement under Lake Oahe, with the pipeline rebuilt in a different location TBD, such as further north and near Bismarck, and the existing pipeline abandoned

What should you write in your email? Here are five basic tips for writing testimony:
• Any length is OK – a few sentences are fine, or longer if you like. There is no length limit.
• Keep it unique – link to a personal story, talk about a topic that matters to you in your own words – the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers may consider very similar comments as duplicates and not weigh them as heavily. Do not just read talking points.
• Specifically address the adequacy of the Draft EIS – it is not adequate
• Specifically address the proposed alternatives – the Army Corps should select No Action Alternative 2
• Specifically address the risks of the section of pipe that runs under Lake Oahe

EMAIL ADDRESS for your public comments: NWO-DAPL-EIS@usace.army.mil
SUBJECT LINE: Comments on the DAPL DEIS

I was on a letter-writing call last week in which we heard from two young Standing Rock Sioux leaders, Maya and Memphis. They’ve been in the DAPL struggle since they were in their teens and are so grateful for the support of our letters. They emphasized the importance of not getting tripped up with worries about what our letters say, but to focus on the personal connection you have with this issue and to make our letters UNIQUE so they stand out. After Maya explained that even a pinhole leak in the pipeline would result in 11,000 barrels of oil spillage per day, I wrote about my gratitude for a clean water supply and how I couldn’t imagine living with the daily traumatic threat of an oil spill in my drinking water. Because it’s not a matter of if there’s a spill, it’s only a question of when the pipeline will break. The pipeline runs under the water, so once it ruptures, it’s already too late. In my letter, I also pointed out DAPL flies in the face of Biden’s climate reduction goals and that scientists have made it very clear we must keep fossils fuels in the ground if we are to have a livable planet.

The most important thing is to write a letter today and submit it by the December 13 deadline. DO NOT WORRY ABOUT PERFECTION! Again, here is the full document with further information.

Thank you in advance for standing with the people for clean water and against the polluting Dakota Access Pipeline. Solidarity! ✊🏽

Refaat Alareer: rest in power and peace

/ Tracy Abell / 7 Comments

Today I learned that Dr. Refaat Alareer, along with his brother, sister, and her four children, were targeted and murdered in an Israeli airstrike. Refaat was a translator, academic, and writer who also reported on life in Gaza. These last two months I got to “know” him on Twitter/X as he shared specific details of the violence and horrors inflicted upon Gazans. Despite the death and destruction, he was funny and hopeful. He struck me as a human being comfortable in his own skin.

At the end of October, I posted a glimpse into LIGHT IN GAZA, an anthology of Palestinian writers and artists sharing their lived experiences under military occupation. But it wasn’t until today that I made the connection that the Refaat from social media was the same man with an essay in LIGHT IN GAZA. Refaat wrote “Gaza Asks: When Shall This Pass?” (Note: You may download the anthology for free from Haymarket Books). I highly recommend reading the entire piece yourself in order to better understand the gift that Refaat was to this world.

In “Gaza Asks,” he shared memories of the random violence he experienced over the years, along with that of friends and family members, and how in each instance they comforted themselves with “It shall pass.” When Refaat was older, teaching world literature and creative writing at the Islamic University in Gaza (IUG), he told stories to his three children to distract them from the twenty-three-day onslaught by Israel’s military (Operation Cast Lead). He told stories as bombs and missiles exploded in the background. Refaat wrote “As a Palestinian, I have been brought up on stories and storytelling. It’s both selfish and treacherous to keep a story to yourself–stories are meant to be told and retold. If I kept a story to myself, I would be betraying my legacy, my mother, my grandmother, and my homeland.”  He went on to say “Telling stories was my way of resisting. It was all I could do. And it was then I decided that if I lived, I would dedicate much of my life to telling the stories of Palestine, empowering Palestinian narratives, and nurturing younger voices.” 

When that particular onslaught ended, Refaat returned to the classroom where he told his students “Writing is a testimony, a memory that outlives any human experience, and an obligation to communicate with ourselves and the world. We lived for a reason, to tell the tales of loss, of survival, and of hope.” He began assigning and training his students to write short stories based on their realities. Those stories were collected and edited by Refaat and published as GAZA WRITES BACK.

But that wasn’t all Refaat did in the classroom. As so succinctly expressed by his friend Dan Cohen, Refaat “used English-language literature and poetry to teach his students the difference between Judaism and Zionism, equipping them with the mental tools to resist Zionist propaganda that seeks to conflate the two.” You can read more about those classroom experiences in “Gaza Asks.”

Later in the essay, in regards to Israel later destroying the administration building at IUG, Refaat wrote “. . . to me, IUG’s only danger to the Israeli occupation and its apartheid regime is that it is the most important place in Gaza to develop students’ minds as indestructible weapons. Knowledge is Israel’s worst enemy. Awareness is Israel’s most hated and feared foe. That’s why Israel bombs a university: it wants to kill openness and determination to refuse living under injustice and racism.”

I’ll stop there because I can’t do justice to the eloquence of Refaat’s essay, and I hope you’ll forgive me for already revealing so much. It’s just that this entire essay touched my heart and I felt compelled to share.

I do want to highlight this poem that follows his essay in LIGHT IN GAZA. Refaat also posted the poem on his Instagram account one week ago:

I’ll end with this poem he’d pinned at the top of his Twitter/X account on November 1: “If I must die, let it be a tale.”

Rest in power and peace, Dr. Refaat Alareer.

Just say NO to more military aid to Israel

/ Tracy Abell

I just personalized a quick letter to my two Senators and one Representative using the  CODEPINK template, demanding they NOT approve $14.5 BILLION in military aid to Israel. (scroll to bottom of page for the letter). Here’s the summary info CODEPINK sent me after I submitted my letter, info they want me to share with friends:

The United States House of Representatives has passed a Republican plan providing $14.5 billion in military aid for Israel. The package includes $4 Billion to replenish Israel’s Iron Dome and military equipment transferred from US stocks. Our Congress is blatantly prioritizing the genocide of Palestinians over providing Gazans with the aid they need desperately. This bill will likely pass on top of the already massive $886 billion war budget. It will fund Israel’s genocide in Gaza despite protests across the country in support of Palestine. Tell Congress to vote NO to arming genocide in Palestine!

We need to act now.

In my letter, I pointed out how people in the U.S. are struggling to afford rent, food, healthcare, etc. and that it’s disgusting for them to send BILLIONS of dollars to enable a nuclear power to commit genocide and mass displacement. PLEASE join me in writing a quick letter. Click HERE to write your letter.

Thank you in advance for acting upon our shared humanity. Solidarity! ✊🏽

Climate Movement Monday: COP28

/ Tracy Abell / 5 Comments

Welcome back to Movement Mondays in which we discuss all things climate. In these posts, I share information and typically offer an action you can take on behalf of people and planet, with a focus on frontline communities that are enduring the worst effects of the climate crisis. Today, I’m not offering an action but am sharing information that’s just as much for me as my readers. The topic is “COP28” which I’ve been avoiding learning about because the particulars make my head want to explode. We’ll get into those specifics, but first: what is COP28?

The United Nations Climate Change Conferences are the world’s highest decision-making body on climate issues and one of the largest international meetings in the world. The 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference, or Conference of the Parties (COP28) is happening right now, hosted by be the UAE (United Arab Emirates).

Okay, I mentioned avoiding this whole topic because it stressed/angered me. Why? Well, as climate writer Emily Atkin points out [COP28 is ] “being run by a literal fossil fuel baron: Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, the head of the state-run Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc), which also happens to have one of the biggest oil and gas expansion plans in the world.”

Atkin further writes: “. . . Al Jaber’s self-proclaimed “game-changing plan” to achieve progress at COP28 is to give oil and gas companies more influence over the climate change summit, despite warnings from the U.N.’s former climate chief that the approach is “dangerous” and “a direct threat to the survival of vulnerable nations.”

Atkin shares other more damning conflicts of interest and I encourage you to read the entire piece from Atkin: COP28 sucks. Pay attention anyway. The fossil fuel interests attempting to corrupt the high-stakes summit would love nothing more than for us to look away.

Why should we pay attention? Because whenever we avert our gaze from the climate crisis, it most dramatically affects those in the Global South. People living in that part of the world have been facing the effects of climate change for decades already and they cannot afford to look away –think low-lying islands and rising sea levels– and their very survival depends on what’s decided at COP28. As Atkin writes: “For the nations most threatened by that future, negotiations over how to structure a Loss and Damage fund to compensate for damages, as well as negotiations over how to mend previously broken climate finance pledges by the Global North, are too consequential to be ignored.” Go here for the opening plenary statement delivered by the Indigenous Peoples’ Caucus.

International Indigenous Peoples Forum on Climate Change Opening Elder Ceremony. Photo by Willi White for NDN Collective.

It might not feel meaningful to learn about COP28 via Atkin’s piece or this by Bill McKibben, but knowledge is power. Even if there’s no direct action connected to our reading, by educating ourselves we’re forging a connection with the planet’s most vulnerable populations. We’re acknowledging their worth and implying our solidarity with their struggles.

Thank you for being here. I appreciate and welcome all thoughts, so please share in the comments. Until then, solidarity! ✊🏽

Please remain in the struggle

/ Tracy Abell / 4 Comments

I’m writing this post for myself as much as anyone else. These are incredibly dark days on the planet and on some mornings, the grief of all we’re facing weighs so heavily it’s hard to get out of bed. But once I’m up, I always feel, if not better, then at least a shift in my emotions. And despite the fact that Biden and my three so-called representatives in the federal government refuse to heed our call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and, instead, continue to unconditionally support sending more money and bombs to Israel, I do feel a tiny bit better after calling their offices to voice my horror at the blood on their hands because my call equals me adding my voice to the chorus. How much worse would I feel if I remained silent and complicit as my tax dollars enable genocide and the displacement of millions?

So, from where I sit, it’s well worth it to make phone calls. Even better? Attending a rally in which I always, always learn something from the speakers (and always, always weep, which is also cathartic). Zippy and I did this yesterday. It was cold and the wind was biting, but we bundled up to join a whole lot of folks at the capitol for a rally before marching to the convention center in protest of the Jewish National Fund Conference. Here’s a good article explaining JNF and the protest.

It feels good to stand in solidarity with others. It feels good to remember there are MANY people working so very hard on behalf of the Palestinians. It feels good to be in company with people who recognize the connection between struggles, here and around the world. It feels good to share space with people who acknowledge the heartbreak of other ongoing genocides in Congo, Sudan, India, Armenia. All of that feels good, even in the biting cold.

Basically, it feels better to take action on behalf of the oppressed than to remain in bed, curled up in the fetal position. Again, I’m writing this reminder as much for myself as anyone else. And in case your energies and attention are flagging, PLEASE remain in the struggle. Please keep calling and sending emails. Go to ceasefiretoday.com for ALL help in taking action, whether it’s making calls and writing emails, learning how to arrange a visit to your rep’s office, or finding a rally or action where you live.

The powerful elites are counting on us getting tired, distracted, or overcome by despair. (But as Mariame Kaba says: “Let this radicalize you rather than lead you to despair.”) They want us to look away from the ugly truth. PLEASE do not avert your gaze. If you haven’t yet taken action on behalf of the Palestinian people, please know it’s never too late to add your voice to the chorus. Hello and welcome to the struggle!

Okay, this is me publicly vowing to remain in  the struggle. I hope you’ll do the same. Solidarity! ✊🏽

Hamza by Fadwa Tuqan, the “Poetess of Palestine”

/ Tracy Abell

Hamza
by Fadwa Tuqan

Hamza was just an ordinary man
like others in my hometown
who work only with their hands for bread.

When I met him the other day,
this land was wearing a cloak of mourning
in windless silence. And I felt defeated.
But Hamza-the-ordinary said:
‘My sister, our land has a throbbing heart,
it doesn’t cease to beat, and it endures
the unendurable. It keeps the secrets
of hills and wombs. This land sprouting
with spikes and palms is also the land
that gives birth to a freedom-fighter.
This land, my sister, is a woman.’

Days rolled by. I saw Hamza nowhere.
Yet I felt the belly of the land
was heaving in pain.

Hamza — sixty-five — weighs
heavy like a rock on his own back.
‘Burn, burn his house,’
a command screamed,
‘and tie his son in a cell.’
The military ruler of our town later explained:
it was necessary for law and order,
that is, for love and peace!

Armed soldiers gherraoed his house:
the serpent’s coil came full circle.
The bang at the door was but an order —
‘evacuate, damn it!’
And generous as they were with time, they could say:
‘in an hour, yes!’

Hamza opened the window.
Face to face with the sun blazing outside,
he cried: ‘in this house my children
and I will live and die
for Palestine.’
Hamza’s voice echoed clean
across the bleeding silence of the town.

An hour later, impeccably,
the house came crumbling down,
the rooms were blown to pieces in the sky,
and the bricks and the stones all burst forth,
burying dreams and memories of a lifetime

of labor, tears, and some happy moments.

Yesterday I saw Hamza
walking down a street in our town —
Hamza the ordinary man as he always was:
always secure in his determination.

Nothing but birds

/ Tracy Abell / 4 Comments

These photos were all taken after our first snowstorm on October 29th. We saw lots of different species that day and here’s a sampling of who came to visit the feeders and bath.

Black-billed Magpie

Dark-eyed Junco

House Finch

Northern Flicker

Mourning Dove

And one last Dark-eyed Junco, because how could I resist this delightfully round bird?
Wishing everyone a bird-rich day.

Climate Movement Mondays: support on Giving Tuesday

/ Tracy Abell / 3 Comments

Welcome back to Movement Mondays in which we discuss all things climate. Many of these weekly posts have focused on frontline communities experiencing the worst effects of climate change and today I’d like to offer a list of organizations working to protect their specific communities as well as the environment in general. Tomorrow is “Giving Tuesday,” which began in 2012, and “reimagines a world built upon shared humanity and generosity.” Every donation is appreciated!

Image by Pexels from Pixabay

Below, in no particular order, are six groups fighting for people and planet. I thank you in advance for checking them out and donating as you can. Remember, no donation is too small! Also, if you have a group you’d like me to include, please let me know in the comments! Thank you and solidarity! ✊🏽

NDN Collective
The NDN Collective Climate Justice Campaign builds power throughout Indigenous communities in order to tackle the climate crisis. Our team runs and supports campaigns aimed at ending extraction, contamination, and violence in our territories. We advance policy changes, coalition building, and advocacy, while supporting the solutions-based work happening across our nations that utilizes traditional ecological knowledge in order to develop climate adaptive solutions that reflect our values of living with respect for all sources of life.
Donate HERE

Healthy Gulf
Healthy Gulf’s purpose is to collaborate with and serve communities who love the Gulf of Mexico by providing the research, communications, and coalition-building tools needed to reverse the long pattern of over exploitation of the Gulf’s natural resources. (They have a blog that offers a snapshot of what they’re facing in their communities.) I’ve written about them here and here.
Donate HERE 

Protect Our Water, Heritage, Rights (POWHR)
Protect Our Water, Heritage, Rights (POWHR) is an interstate coalition representing individuals and groups from Virginia and West Virginia dedicated to protecting water, land, and communities from harms caused by the expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure, including the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). (They also have a blog.) NOTE: I’ve written about MVP here and here and here.
Donate HERE

Appalachian Legal Defense Fund
Support the Appalachian Legal Defense Fund for community members being targeted for protecting their communities and land.  All funds will be used for the costs of bail, legal defense and defendant support. NOTE: I wrote about the increased criminalization against those fighting to protect people, land, and water here.
Donate HERE

Climate Defiance
This group takes direct, non-violent action, targeting those in power.
Donate HERE

Third Act
We are building a community of experienced Americans over the age of sixty determined to change the world for the better. Together, we use our life experience, skills and resources to build better tomorrow. NOTE: They’ve established a “No Time To Waste” Fund, with the goal of raising $500,000 by December 31. The No Time to Waste Fund will help ramp up our organizing work to support 60,000+ Third Actors plus allies coast to coast—from staffing and training, to events and digital support.
Donate HERE

A request on my birthday

/ Tracy Abell / 10 Comments

Today is my birthday and I just celebrated it by hoop-dancing to loud music which greatly boosted my spirits. And now I’m here to share my birthday wish:

Image by profivideos from Pixabay

I’d be downright thrilled if you could help me celebrate by taking one quick action on behalf of the Palestinian people.

There’s a “humanitarian pause” right now which is a welcome step in the right direction, as was the exchange of hostages and prisoners, but the situation remains extremely dire and Israel has promised to resume its campaign of destruction for at least two more months.

The following info comes from Jewish Voice for Peace. Every second counts in terms of preventing deaths due to starvation, dehydration, injury, illness, etc. You can also access this info HERE. Remember, just one quick action! 🙂

————————————————————————————————————

Support the Global Conscience Convoy
The Global Conscience Convoy is now made up of delegations from 65 countries, from Japan to the US and from South Africa to Norway. There are 139 organizations: political, environmental, feminist and rights groups; trade unions; relief and civil society organizations. In addition to 224 medical professionals, 133 journalists and 19 public figures: parliamentarians, artists and authors + hundreds of citizens from around the world. Many more have expressed their support or their endorsement of the convoy.

What can you do to help?

There are many ways you can help:

  1. Contact the Egyptian authorities and express support for the convoy (link below)
  2. Post a photo with the message, “Let the #GlobalConscienceConvoy go, #OpenRafahCrossing” and tag both the convoy’s socials and Egypt’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
  3. Amplify the convoy’s social media channels (Instagram, Twitter) and the hashtag #OpenRafahCrossing
  4. Write to your elected representatives, asking them to support a complete ceasefire and an end to the siege on Gaza including opening the Rafah Crossing.
  5. Write to your elected representatives asking them to join or support the convoy.
  6. Write to anyone you know in the media, asking them to join the convoy – or at least to cover it.
  7. Write to friends and to your network and ask people to support the convoy and advocate for a complete ceasefire and an end to the siege on Gaza including by opening the Rafah Crossing. All Palestinians who exit Gaza must be guaranteed right of return to their lands.Please join us in supporting the Global Conscience Convoy and send an email to the Egyptian Authorities.

    If the link doesn’t work for those using a browser-based account, please email the following addresses: 

consulate@egyptembassy.net, media.office8@op.gov.eg, a.saeed@op.gov.eg, ambassador@egyptembassy.net

    

Suggested email:

    To whom it may concern, 

I would like to express my support for the Global Conscience Convoy and join the calls on the Egyptian authorities to provide the needed security clearance and a safe passage for the Global Conscience Convoy from Cairo to Rafah and back. I join the demands to open the Rafah Crossing for all humanitarian aid (food, water, medication, and fuel), and for an unconditional exit for the critically wounded. I also join the demands that medical, relief, humanitarian and journalistic crews enter Gaza. With every passing minute, the Palestinian people pay an unimaginable price for remaining in their lands, the Global Conscience Convoy can make a difference. Please do not hinder their efforts.

    Open the Rafah Crossing. Let the Global Conscience go.

Free Palestine.
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Thank you in advance for adding your voice to the international chorus shouting on behalf of the Palestinians! I wish I could share a slice of cake with all of you. 🎂